Gasoline Reaches $8/Gallon

Mui Mui in Mongu, Zambia standing outside the British Petroleum station as gasoline reaches record levels.

Gasoline has reached an all-time high. People are paying more for gasoline than ever before. However, most people in Mongu, Zambia don’t have to worry about gasoline. They cannot afford the vehicles to drive, therefore gasoline isn’t an issue.

For those very few and fortunate — mostly non-government organizations — gasoline is currently $7.80 a gallon for regular unleaded. And to think we’re having a stroke having to pay $3.25 a gallon. There’s no doubt, gasoline is way too high. Yet it is real injustice some of the poorest people in the world are paying the highest prices for gasoline.

I was taking pictures in downtown Mongu when an African woman called my name. Not something anyone would expect being halfway around the world. But as I looked up, I saw Mui Mui. She’s 39 years old with HIV and has five children. Mui Mui’s 1-year-old son was in the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word’s Mother & Infant Care Program. During his first year of life, the boy received formula from the San Antonio nuns in an effort to keep Mui Mui’s virus from passing to him. It worked!!! As a result, Mui Mui’s son does not have HIV and has been successfully discharged from the Incarnate Word Sisters’ program.

Our driver, Morris Kasiwa gave Mui Mui a ride home. She looks pregnant with her sixth child but she didn’t offer any information, and I didn’t ask. I know not to ask a woman if she’s pregnant if I’m not sure — doesn’t matter this is a developing nation.

Mui Mui’s 8-year-old niece with HIV and other illnesses. She doesn’t qualify for government help because she’s not sick enough.

When we arrived at Mui Mui’s hut in the bush, she introduced me to her 8-year-old niece, who also has HIV. The little girl’s sad little face just killed me. She tried to look happy, but I knew this is the girl’s second bout with HIV, and her huge distended belly glared agony. Sadly, the 8-year-old doesn’t qualify for government help because she’s not sick enough.

We saw the new home the Sisters are renting for the MIC Program. It’s extremely simple, spacious and clean, and looks like it’s going to work for the 100 or so HIV-infected mothers and their newborns.

CHRISTUS Santa Rosa’s Kristina Tolsma, R.N., and a 7-year-old friend she made outside the Mother and Infant Care Program Office in Mongu, Zambia.

While there, CHRISTUS Santa Rosa pediatric emergency room nurse Kristina Tolsma met a new friend. The little girl kept peering into the MIC compound transfixed by Kristina’s blonde hair and blue eyes. She fell in love with Kristina, who loved the girl in return.

A nurse prepares infant formula purchased by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.

Nurses also went to the new MIC office to prepare bags of milk formula babies will receive. It’s such a wonderful program, and anyone can help. If you’d like to support the Sisters stem AIDS from African babies log on to www.AmorMeus.org.

Zambia has at least two dozen national holidays, and everything closes down or opens late. Even the Catholic Church runs on a delayed schedule. Today was National Youth Day, honoring Zambia’s future. Mongu celebrated at the city’s soccer stadium.

A Zambian honor guard in the Mongu soccer stadium on National Youth Day.